Gorillaz Record New Album on an iPad

The members of cartoon supergroup Gorillaz have been busy touring this year, but they could already have a new album — recorded on an iPad — out before Christmas.

As frontman Damon Albarn told the NME, he’s been working on the follow-up to this year’s Plastic Beach while on tour with the band. And although Albarn has previously declared himself a bit of a technophobe, he decided to record the new tracks on his iPad.

“I hope I’ll be making the first record on an iPad,” he told the NME. “I fell in love with my iPad as soon as I got it, so I’ve made it a completely different type of record.”

Albarn, who first gained fame as the lead singer of Britpop band Blur, says this album will have more of an “American” sound, like “an English voice that has been put through a vocoder of America.”

Albarn may be hoping to make the first iPad record, but he’s also part of a growing number of musicians using the Apple tablet to explore their creative options. Earlier this year, classical pianist Lang Lang used an iPad to play “Flight of the Bumblebee” during an encore at a San Francisco concert. And iPad DJ Rana June Sobhany will perform at the 14th Street Apple Store in New York City tonight.

Meanwhile, despite Albarn’s supposed technophobia, the Gorillaz — whose video for “Stylo” broke viewing records when it premiered on YouTube () — will continue using digital and social tools to connect with fans. The band’s “Escape to Plastic Beach” iPhone () app has been updated to accommodate its shows at London’s O2 arena next week. Markers throughout the venue will interact with the app, allowing fans to mingle with life-sized 3D models and visit the band backstage via augmented reality layers, which will provide peeks of the band’s dressing room and additional video content.